One listen to Ella Fitzgerald’s “Mack the Knife” and Ori Dagan was hooked for life. Now the award-winning Toronto jazz singer has made the kind of record that first inspired him. ‘Live in the Market,’ his fifth album and first live recording, arrives October 23 on G-THREE Records, and he celebrates the next night with a release concert at Toronto’s Heliconian Hall on October 24.

Recorded in front of an audience at Kensington Sound, in the heart of Toronto’s Kensington Market, the album captures Dagan’s rich bass baritone, inventive phrasing and joyful improvisational spirit. An all-star trio backs him: Stu Harrison on piano, Brandi Disterheft on bass and Ben Wittman on drums. Together they reimagine eight jazz standards with warmth, wit and effortless swing, inspired by classic live recordings from Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, Billie Holiday and Dinah Washington.

“Releasing this album feels like a milestone for me. Of all the recordings I’ve made, I think this one comes closest to capturing who I am as a musician,” says Dagan. “Ever since the fateful day I got hooked on Ella Fitzgerald’s ‘Mack the Knife’ and ‘How High the Moon,’ I’ve believed that jazz – a music built on spontaneity, risk and discovery – is at its best when there’s an audience sharing in the moment.”